Fewer Notifications

Twitch email and push notifications are incredibly powerful tools for connecting broadcasters with their viewers. Yet, too many notifications can be overwhelming and lead to viewers opting out from receiving them completely.

That’s why we’re trying to be smarter about what notifications we send. One big change we made earlier this year was implementing an opt-in model for broadcasters you follow. Rather than having notifications turned on when you followed a broadcaster, we turned them off by default. When we looked at the data, we saw that sending you less notifications didn’t result in less content watched. Viewership remained the same.

Recently, we saw another opportunity to send you fewer emails and mobile alerts. We did a second experiment where we unsubscribed users from receiving notifications for channels they hadn’t watched in the last six months. Again, the data showed us that this change did not impact viewership. But, overall unsubscribes from notifications decreased by 20%, thereby protecting an important channel for broadcasters growing their audiences.

So, starting today, we’ll be rolling out these changes to everyone — inboxes throughout the land rejoice! If you’ve been receiving notifications for channels that you haven’t watched in a long time, you’ll get an email about channels you’ve been unsubscribed from and details about how to re-activate those notifications if you want. Have other questions? Check below for our FAQ.

Good Times,

Danny

Twitch Product Team

FAQ

****Q. How do I reactivate notifications for any of the channels that have been removed from the notification system?

A. If you want to continue receiving notifications for these broadcasters, you can manage this by channel by clicking the Following options menu underneath the player. You can also manage all your notification settings here.

****Q. Will this select channel notification deactivation happen just this once or will you be automatically removing certain channels from my notification list from time to time?

A. This is a one time deactivation, but we’re likely to do more work like this in the future. We’ll always let you know if we’re removing channels from your notification list.

Q. Is there a limit to how many channels I can receive email notifications for?

A. Currently, there is no limit.

Q. What was the measure used to remove certain channels from my email notifications?

A. Had not watched or clicked on a notification in the past six months while logged in. Followed more than a year ago. Received more than 200 notifications for the channel.

Q. I’m a broadcaster and I wonder does this mean fewer people will know when I’m live?

A. Your least engaged followers will be less likely to know that you are live, but that shouldn’t affect your viewership. Over time more of your notifications will make it to your followers that actually want them.